Roxy van Bemmel’s illustrations are a celebration of sorts. Combining her passion for both people and fashion, they explore the ways in which clothes make the man and vice versa.
“I’m fascinated by people,” she writes on her personal website. “The way their eyes are just a little unhappy, how their mouth is saying something that hasn’t been said yet.”
According to van Bemmel, rather than sticking to realism, her illustrations offer an open-ended interpretation of the ways in which she sees the human body, and how this body interacts and moves through life. “Often my subjects are female, sometimes they’re in between,” she notes.
Having studied fashion design at ArtEZ Academy of the Arts in Arnhem, her work very much leans on her background. According to van Bemmel, though fashion Illustration was just a small part of her studies, since graduating she found herself leaning towards the more artistic side of fashion.
Her subjects, stylish and playful, are often painted in an exaggerated way. “Color is my instrument,” writes van Bemmel. “I don’t think when I apply color. It has to fit.” Her intuitiveness seems to work, with her subjects often portrayed using bold color combinations that are in and of themselves inspiring.
“I paint photos, Instagram photos, myself, my mind. They’re kind of like relatable aliens,” she writes. Take a look at some of her relatable aliens.
